APPENDIX. 475 



Illiterate people, both in England and Ireland, unable to under- 

 stand the subject of migration, account for the disappearance of the 

 cuckoo by imagining that it is " turned'iiito a hawk" in winter ; and 

 some of all classes, knowing the slow and slovenly flight of the land- 

 rail (Jtallus crex), cannot believe that it has sufficient power of wing to 

 migrate far. But in the spring it proceeds from Afnca as far north 

 as Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, and in the autumn returns again, to 

 winter on that continent. In Provence, on the Mediterranean coast of 

 France, and in Tuscany, it is as regular a bird of passage as in the 

 British Islands. In Provence we learn that " they appear with the 

 quails (but are far less numerous), and frequent the same places. As 

 they are nuich larger, and always appear to conduct them, they have 

 received the name of the Kinff of the quails.''* In Italy it bears that 

 name also ; — Re di quaglie.^ My friend, Mr. W. R. Wilde, met with 

 the species at Algiers, in December, and was told that it wintered 

 there. J 



* Duval-Joave, iu 'Zoologist,' vol. iii. p. 1113. 

 t Savi, ' Ornitologia Toscaua,' vol. ii. p. 375. 



:j: A note, contributed by Charles Ensor, Esq., relates to the water-rail, a resident 

 species in the British Islands, being takeu at sea. He remarks in an accompanying 

 letter : — " I have mentioned the course of the wind, north-east, and although that wind 

 was off the land, it was so exceedingly light, that I do not think it could have blown 

 the bird away from the land. It did not show any symptoms of exhaustion, but was 

 quite lively when captured." 



The note made on the occasion is as follows : — " Lat. 47° N. ; long. 15° W. — At 

 sunset tliis eveuiug (August 3rd, 1836), a water-rail, Rnllus aquatlciis, flew on deck. 

 As I was anxious to ascertain how long it coidd be kept alive on board, I got the 

 carpenter to make a cage for it, and brought it into tlie cabin. We cauglit a tunny. 

 Scomber thynnus, the day previously, and it soon began to eat small pieces of the 

 fish ; it also greedily devoured any flies which came into the cage. We had had light 

 winds from the north-east for some days prior to the 3rd of August, and also after- 

 wards, which delayed our arrival at Liverpool until the 11th of that month. On ar- 

 riving abreast the lighthouse, at the entrance of the Mersey, I brought it on deck to 

 let it fly away ; it flew towards the lighthouse for about two hundred yards, and then 

 returned to the ship. I lauded that evening, and, on returning on board the foUow- 

 ing morning, was sorry to find that it had been eaten by a cat during the night." 



